The glycemic index (GI) is a measure developed by doctors in the 1980s to evaluate the effect of foods on blood sugar levels, as part of efforts to combat diabetes. Basically, the more a food makes blood sugar levels rise, the higher its glycemic index (1).
This device allowed doctors to understand that not all carbohydrates are necessarily bad for diabetics: some carbohydrates (such as glucose and sucrose) are worse than others (such as fructose and starch).
With this knowledge, they were able to categorize foods according to their GI:
However, there are two factors not taken into account by the glycemic index:
Because of this, we now have the glycemic load: a new measure which allows a more precise evaluation of a food’s impact on blood sugar(2).
To determine a food’s glycemic load, you multiply its glycemic index by the number of carbohydrates in an average serving of the food, then divide that by 100.
Let’s take the example of cornflakes:
It is generally accepted that the daily glycemic load should be somewhere between 80 and 120. Anything above that is considered too high.
To arrive at this figure, you simply add together the glycemic load of all the different foods consumed during the day (using the amount actually consumed rather than that ‘normally’ consumed).
To help you, we’ve put together this table of the glycemic load and index of 50 common foods. As you’ll see, it’s the freshest, least refined and least processed foods which have the lowest glycemic load (3).
Food |
Carbohydrates per serving |
Glycemic index |
Glycemic load |
1. Apricots |
11 |
34 |
3.8 |
2. Apricots (dried) |
60 |
30 |
18 |
3. Bananas |
21 |
48 |
10 |
4. Wheat (cooked) |
90 |
35 |
32 |
5. Bulghur wheat |
76 |
55 |
42 |
6. Carrots (raw) |
20 |
23 |
2 |
7. Carrots (cooked) |
20 |
92 |
9 |
8. Cherries |
16 |
25 |
4 |
9. Chocolate (dark) |
30 |
23 |
7 |
10. Dates |
15 |
29 |
4 |
11. Dates (dried) |
35 |
40 |
14 |
12. Wholemeal flour T150 (wholemeal loaf) |
15 |
51 |
8 |
13. Wholemeal flour T55 (baguette) |
18 |
83 |
12 |
14. Wholemeal flour T65 (farmhouse loaf) |
15 |
85 |
13 |
15. Strawberries |
7.7 |
25 |
1.9 |
16. Gnocchi |
20 |
70 |
14 |
17. White beans (cooked) |
64 |
35 |
22.5 |
18. Kidney beans (cooked) |
53 |
35 |
18.5 |
19. French beans |
21.5 |
80 |
17.2 |
20. Kiwi fruit |
15 |
50 |
7.5 |
21. Lentils (cooked) |
50 |
25 |
12.5 |
22. Lychees |
15 |
50 |
7.6 |
23. Mangos |
15 |
56 |
8.5 |
24. Honey |
5 |
53 |
3 |
25. Muesli (plain) |
47 |
50 |
23.5 |
26. Nectarines |
12 |
35 |
4 |
27. Nuts |
7 |
15 |
1 |
28. Oranges |
12 |
35 |
4 |
29. Orange juice |
15 |
45 |
8 |
30. Grapefruit |
11 |
22 |
2.5 |
31. Watermelon |
7.5 |
75 |
5.5 |
32. Sweet potato (cooked) |
28 |
65 |
18.2 |
33. White pasta (cooked) |
40 |
60 |
25 |
34. Wholemeal pasta (cooked) |
40 |
50 |
20 |
35. Peaches |
11 |
35 |
4 |
36. Peas (cooked) |
15 |
9 |
1 |
37. Pears |
15.5 |
30 |
4.5 |
38. Split peas (cooked) |
22 |
22 |
5 |
39. Apples |
14 |
36 |
5 |
40. Apple juice |
11 |
41 |
4.5 |
41. Potato (cooked) |
21 |
95 |
20 |
42. Squash (cooked) |
7 |
65 |
4.5 |
43. Plums |
11 |
35 |
9 |
44. Quinoa (cooked) |
21 |
35 |
7.5 |
45. White grapes |
17 |
56 |
9.6 |
46. White rice |
80 |
70 |
56 |
47. Wholegrain rice |
80 |
50 |
28 |
48. Buckwheat |
44 |
50 |
22 |
49. Semolina |
70 |
60 |
42 |
50. Tomato juice |
4.2 |
35 |
1.5 |
If you want to control your weight or indeed lose weight, it’s essential to monitor your blood sugar levels: the metabolism of glucose is a factor in weight gain, and especially fat mass gain.
This is because foods with a high glycemic load produce a spike in insulin, and insulin allows glucose to enter cells. Any excess glucose generated is then metabolized into fat cells called adipocytes.
The good news is there are several plants and natural remedies that can help to normalize the metabolism of sugars and thus regulate glycemia. The main ones are:
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